Tension
by chaserzachsmith
Summary: 1995: Seamus's parents worry about sending him back to Hogwarts.


Nora has been tense and worried lately, and Jack wants to put it off to stress but he's concerned it's more than that. She reads her papers- the weird magic ones with moving text- and she frowns, and then she fakes a smile once Seamus comes down.

Jack wonders if it's about Seamus. Nora has always been prone to worrying about Seamus, by far more than he's ever seen _Seamus_ worry about Seamus. And Seamus is an uncomfortable age, old enough for moodiness and a bad temper, but still immature and still firmly under his mother's wing.

But Jack doesn't know how to parse his observations on his son. Sometimes he'll say something about Seamus's recklessness, or his aggression, and Nora will say something like "It's a Gryffindor thing God help us."

He still isn't totally clear on what exactly a Gryffindor thing is other than that Seamus is controlled by Gryffindor things. Gryffindor as he was told is a quarter of the school and it's a little worrying that it apparently encourages recklessness and aggression.

But what does he know?

He glances out to the hallway off the kitchen and Seamus is on the phone with Dean, twisting the cord around one of his hands. Predicting he'll be a good while, Jack sits at the table with Nora and her moving paper and squeezes her shoulder.

"Hm. That's good," she murmurs.

"Are you going to tell me what's got you so worried?" he asks gently.

As expected, she says "Seamus."

"What about him?" asks Jack. "I can talk to him about careful decision making-"

He has offered many times to talk to Seamus about careful decision making and he doesn't know if he's grateful or disappointed that she never takes the offer. It seems like the fatherly thing to do, talk about a life skill in a sort of disapproving but kind way.

"No, no," says Nora. She spreads one hand out on the paper. "People've been talking about the Hogwarts Headmaster."

Jack frowns. "What's he done to the students?" he asks.

"Not to the students," says Nora. "But people are saying he's gone nutty. And all he's doing lately is talking about He-Who-Must… remember that wizard I told you about?"

"Right, You-Know-Who," says Jack.

"Dumbledore's saying he's back," says Nora. There is so much worry tucked in the lines of her face that she looks much older, and Jack rubs her back.

"Can wizards come back from the dead?" he asks.

"No, that's why everyone thinks Dumbledore's mad," says Nora, and she sighs and leans into him. "And there's more. There's talk about one of the students being in line with Dumbledore. Some kind of conspiracy. I don't know."

"We'll just tell Seamus to steer clear," says Jack reasonably. They both pause, and Seamus's voice drifts in from the hallway.

"-and then Fergus was a right-"

"It's his roommate," says Nora. "Harry Potter."

"Seamus's roommate?" Jack says.

"I'm worried," says Nora unnecessarily. "The boy's supposed to be a compulsive liar- and God knows what kind of influence Dumbledore has on him."

It seems a bit far-fetched to be worried over a fifteen year old boy. Especially one who Seamus described mostly as quiet and polite and a little grumpy. If he were some bully, it'd be different.

Jack doesn't say so, though, just puts his hand on Nora's on the table and says, "He's a smart boy. He can work it out."

"Mmhm," she murmurs, and they both look at the doorway again.

"-was _huge_ , mate, I'm telling you-"

Jack is not there for the row and he wonders if that was on purpose. Seamus is a smart boy and knows when he's outnumbered, so he picks the fight when Jack is working. It is the aftermath that Jack comes home to- Nora in the living room with a Diet Coke and the Beatles playing and a palpable tension.

"Something happen?" Jack says, and kisses the top of her head. She nods and shifts over on the chair.

"Seamus doesn't want to be pulled out of school."

"Well of course not," says Jack. Seamus has been there four years. He has friends. He has Dean Thomas, who Jack thinks is a pretty nice kid.

"I told him about Dumbledore and Harry Potter and he said he didn't care," Nora adds.

Jack is tempted to repeat himself- of course not- but he knows that will worry Nora and that's the last thing he wants.

"Seamus doesn't worry much," he says instead. "Really, Nora, I don't know that we should-"

"Should what, worry about him?" she says, sort of snappish. "He's off half the year and God knows what Dumbledore can do to that school-"

"What do they think," says Jack. "Dumbledore's going to brainwash everyone into believing him?"

"Don't joke about that," says Nora sharply. "You don't understand- you can do that with magic."

The things that you can apparently do with magic terrify Jack. Brainwashing and, after the Quidditch Cup last year, all the things Nora had said You-Know-Who did, torture and gruesome murder and mass destruction. Even the weird spells- bat bogeys and jelly legs and what have you- the ones that don't seem like they'd have any real purpose.

He doesn't know how he can help Nora. Doesn't know what he can do for Seamus. This isn't new to him, of course. It's the way it is.

Nora worries about Seamus. Seamus does worrying things. And Jack watches and wonders if he should worry too.

"What does it mean if Dumbledore is going nuts?" he says. "Wouldn't they replace him if he was a danger?"

"There's always a danger at Hogwarts, Jack," she says darkly. "A boy died last year."

This is news to Jack.

"That's not common, right?" he says, just in case. Nora doesn't act like it's a stupid question, though.

"No," she says. "It was a freak accident. They don't know what caused it." Jack suspects there's something else to it but he doesn't know what it would be.

He finds Seamus sulking on the floor of his room, paging through a comic book too fast to actually be reading it. Jack knocks on the doorframe and Seamus looks up, hostile.

"What's bothering you?" asks Jack.

Seamus drops the comic book on the floor with a look of disgust. "Mam doesn't want me back at Hogwarts. She's being a bleeding-"

Jack interrupts, just to save himself the trouble of having to talk to Seamus about language. "She wants what's best for you, son."

"She doesn't know what's best for me," mutters Seamus.

Jack is always a little surprised how young Seamus can look. He's petulant and annoyed right now and it makes him look like a child. "She- _we_ want to keep you safe and there's been talk about-" he falters, frowns. Dwindledore? Drutherdore?

"The school."

"It's not the school," scoffs Seamus. "It's Dumbledore. And Harry."

Ah, Dumbledore.

Seamus looks up at Jack then, frustrated. "Me and Harry are barely friends. Barely. He has his own friends."

Jack is in truth not bothered with Harry Potter. The boy is fifteen and if he's lying for celebrity, well, Jack has read enough magazines to know that celebrity is nothing permanent.

He is annoyed at the situation- annoyed that Nora and Seamus had fought, annoyed that Seamus is so contrary, annoyed that Nora is so paranoid, annoyed with himself for being out of place in this entire fight. But he contents himself with nodding in what he hopes is a firm way at Seamus. "At least apologise to your mother and we can talk about going back to Hogwarts."

Seamus looks like he wants to say something else but he keeps it zipped, thank God. It's like a nod, like an acknowledgement that Jack is his father after all.

He's content, for now, with that.


End file.
